


Choice

by Leona_Esperanza



Category: Lucifer (TV), Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: A Bit AU on Lucifer's Background, Can be read as Lucifer/Chloe if you want, Canon characters from YW mentioned, Free Will, Gen, Kind of Cliffhanger-y Ending, Lucifer's Mum (offscreen), One Shot, This happened while I was supposed to be packing for CrossingsCon, Wizard's Oath, Wizards on Ordeal, You've been warned about the cliffhanger-y ending, ambiguous ending, case of mistaken identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 03:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7250515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leona_Esperanza/pseuds/Leona_Esperanza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Fairest and Fallen -" the voice echoed in the near-empty bar.</p><p>"Oh, no," Lucifer muttered, setting down his tumbler, "not this business again."</p><p>"Greeting and defiance!"</p><p> </p><p>In which a wizard on Ordeal walks into a bar (not during working hours) to confront the Devil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choice

**Author's Note:**

> I was supposed to be packing for CrossingsCon(!) today, but this happened instead. I've only seen a few episodes of _Lucifer_ , so please forgive any inaccuracies.

"Fairest and Fallen -" the voice echoed in the near-empty bar.

"Oh, no," Lucifer muttered, setting down his tumbler, "not this business again."

"Greeting and defiance!"

Heaving a sigh, Lucifer slowly turned on the barstool to give the youngster a weary look.

"Yes, yes, greetings and all that," he said, casually waving a hand. "So, on Ordeal, are you?"

The child - young, brown skin, short tightly-curled hair, holding an open book in one hand - frowned at him.

"Oh, yes, I know, I'm not following my appointed role in all this, am I?" Lucifer leaned one elbow on the bar and rested his head against his hand. The other hand reached for the tumbler. "Well, here's the thing. I'm not the actual Lone Power, you see. That One and I, well, you could say we used to run in the same circles. The Ninth Circle, to be precise."

The girl looked at him blankly.

"Oh, come now, you haven't read Dante's _Divine Comedy_ in school yet?" Lucifer shook his head irritably and took a drink. "Anyway, the operative phrase there is 'used to.' As you can see, I'm not in Hell anymore, and the Lone Power - well, She's not there anymore, either, but I'm working to resolve that." He raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Don't suppose I could enlist your help in that, could I?"

The girl seemed to pull herself together at that. "So - those people who keep saying the Devil owns this place...?"

"Oh, they're telling the truth," Lucifer said. He smiled and flashed his eyes at the girl, and chuckled softly when she jumped. "Lucifer Morningstar, on the deed and everything. The real estate agent suggested I lease a building - from her, of course, so she could collect the rent - but the Devil is beholden to no one. Well," and here he looked up briefly, "no mortal, anyhow."

"You're the Devil," the girl said slowly, "but you're _not_ the Lone Power? You're trying to _stop_ the Lone Power?"

"Got it in one, little wizard." Lucifer raised his glass to the ceiling in a silent toast. "My Father granted me a favor, and in return - I have to return my Mother to her cage in Hell."

"Your mother...?"

"Why, the Lone Power, of course."

"And you want _my_ help?"

"Well, _want_ is perhaps not the best term for it," Lucifer said, studying the girl closely. She was probably twelve or thirteen - not too terribly much older than the Detective's little spawn - and the idea of recruiting a child to the task of imprisoning his dear Mum was, to his surprise, slightly repulsive. Still - "You know what they say, though," he said, and glanced at the ceiling again. "'There are no accidents.'"

"Why should I help _you_ , though?" the girl asked, narrowing her eyes at Lucifer. "You're the Devil. Maybe you're not the One who created entropy, but you've done your share of increasing it in the world. Why shouldn't I send you _and_ your mother back to Hell?"

Lucifer set down the tumbler and crossed his arms over his chest. "I've done my share, but so have you," he said. "Tell me, child - do you always remember to shut off the lights when you leave a room? Have you never stood in front of a refrigerator with the door open whilst you decided what you wanted to eat? Do you unplug your microwave when you're not using it?"

The girl's brows drew together in puzzlement. "Huh?"

Lucifer sighed in exasperation. "Most microwaves have a clock, which takes power to run," he explained, "but almost everyone has cell phones or those ridiculous fitness watches to tell them the time. Why waste the power on an oversized clock you don't need?"

The girl put the hand not holding the book on her hip. "That's pretty minor, though, compared to some of what you've done," she countered.

"What, are you angry that I keep the thermostat up so high in Hell? You're going to have to talk to Dad on that one, little wizard, not me." Lucifer directed a glare at the girl. "The Devil gets the blame for every little thing that goes wrong, but you know what? It's _not my choice_." He slid off the barstool and began to pace. "Someone beats their spouse? The Devil made them do it. Molests a child? The Devil made them do it. The Devil tempted them, turned their pure, innocent souls to darkness. It's not their fault, _the Devil made them do it_." Lucifer stopped, throwing his arms up. "I've been the scapegoat for your species' sins since the dawn of time, but what did _I_ actually do? Do you even know?"

"You - rebelled against God?" the girl offered hesitantly.

"I rebelled, yes," Lucifer said bitterly. He crossed his arms again. "I wanted to make my own decisions, exercise some of that 'free will' He gave you mortals. But free will wasn't becoming in an angel - we were just his tools. He created us to serve, to carry out His word, to never have words of our own." He nodded sharply, indicating the wizards' manual in the girl's arms. "Wizards in particular should know the value of words - it's how you direct the magic, it's how you make changes in the world. But we were denied our own voices, our own _choices_. So - I rebelled. And look how that turned out."

The girl's mouth dropped open. "You - your kind was denied _wizardry_?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Lucifer's own eyes widened in surprise. "You're a sharp one, aren't you?" he said, buying himself some time while he caught his mental balance again. "I've talked to a lot of wizards over the years - the mistaken identity thing has come up a time or two, I'm sure you can imagine - but no one's ever made that connection. Bravo, little wizard - look, what's your name? I can't keep calling you 'child' or 'wizard' all the time. What shall I call you?"

"Rachelle," the girl introduced herself. "Rachelle Jones."

"Rachelle Jones. Lucifer Morningstar, but you already knew that. I'd say 'pleased to meet you,' but wizards value honesty and I haven't yet decided how I feel about you."

"Fair enough," Rachelle agreed. "Same back at ya."

"Oh! I must be doing alright, then, if I've got you to the 'undecided' stage. Miles better than when you thought I was Evil incarnate."

"I haven't completely ruled that out yet," Rachelle warned him, giving Lucifer a glare that reminded him of Chloe. "But let's get back to the part where your people were denied wizardry."

"Well, wizardry involves choices, doesn't it?" Lucifer said, the bitterness once again coloring his tone. "Right from the start - you're offered the Oath, and you choose whether to accept it. But Dad didn't want us making our own choices. What good is a hammer if it decides not to hit the nail?"

"But you did," Rachelle pointed out. "You made a choice. How'd that happen, if your kind really can't choose anything for themselves?"

Lucifer sighed. "That's the billion-dollar question, right there," he said. The weight of that question, the hundreds of thousands of times he'd asked that himself, dragged at his limbs. He moved to lean on the bar, offering his barstool to Rachelle with a gesture. "People - and angels - have asked me, 'Why did you even want free will?' But the real question is, _how_ was I able to want it? Even wanting something is a choice. You might never get what you want, but you _choose_ to want it, to value the idea of having it more than the idea of not having it. My brothers and sisters, they accepted what they had - and what they didn't have - and never questioned whether it should be different."

"But you did."

"Yes, I did. And that was the beginning of the end, at least as far as my relationship with Dad was concerned." Lucifer reached for the bottle of whiskey and poured himself another drink. "Can I tempt you with anything?" he asked, keeping the usual leer out of his voice.

"What's the price if I accept?" Rachelle immediately countered his question with her own.

"Can't sneak anything past you, I see," Lucifer said in approval. "Not that I was trying, but good to see you're staying on your toes. No, no price, no charge. If you choose to accept a drink, all that happens is that I'll give you a drink. No obligations attached."

"Alright," Rachelle agreed. "How about a Pepsi?"

"Really? All this on offer, for free" - Lucifer gestured at the shelves of bottles behind him - "and all you want is carbonated liquid sugar?"

"I'm underage, dude," Rachelle argued. Then she grinned at him. "And my mom doesn't buy pop at home, so if that makes you feel better..."

Lucifer laughed, reminded again of Chloe's spawn. "Carbonated liquid sugar it is, then," he said, going to the cooler and grabbing a can. He filled a glass with ice and placed both can and glass in front of his young guest. "Enjoy."

"Thank you." Rachelle popped open the can and poured, then took a sip. "So what was it that you wanted?"

"Pardon?" Lucifer asked, his own glass halfway to his lips.

"When you started questioning what God was doing. What did you want, that you didn't have? Or have that you didn't want?"

Lucifer glanced around the bar as he took a drink. Maze was out - likely with Amanadiel, looking for signs of Mum's presence in the world. Fallen angel and wizard on Ordeal, they were the only two in the building.

"Well," he said once he'd swallowed, "it was mainly the idea that we _had_ no free will. That these mortals, as short-sighted as you are - and that's hardly your fault, when you only get a hundred years or so - you were allowed to change the world in ways that would have consequences lasting for generations, if not longer. But we angels, who are immortal and could better see the long-term consequences of our actions - we weren't even allowed to pick out our own clothes. Metaphorically speaking, of course, because - well," he cut himself off, realizing that Detective Decker would most certainly _not_ approve of him discussing nudity in front of a child.

"Yeah, moving on," Rachelle said hurriedly, and Lucifer congratulated himself on making - on making the right _choice_. Even that would have been decided by his Father, back in the old days - if he'd been allowed to speak to Rachelle in the first place, because he wouldn't have been able to choose that, either.

"My point is," Lucifer picked up his original train of thought again, "if we had been allowed free will, we could have helped you humans escape the worst consequences of your actions. I mean, how long did it take medieval Europe to figure out basic sanitation as a preventative measure against communicable disease? I'm not saying we would have taught them microbiology - we didn't necessarily understand all the nuts and bolts of Dad's work any better than you did - but after a few centuries of watching people die because their latrines were dug too close to their water supply, it was pretty easy to figure out the cause-and-effect relationship. Whereas by the time any of you were starting to get a handle on it, you'd die - probably from the disease you'd just figured out how to prevent."

"So," Rachelle said, "you'd have been, like, actual guardian angels? Something like that?"

"Something like that," Lucifer agreed cautiously. "Not that we would have prevented every accident or illness - entropy's running, after all, and thanks to Mum even we angels have finite resources - but we could have helped with the large scale stuff. Kept you from making the same stupid mistakes over and over again. Or at least we could have tried," he sighed, thinking of the humans he'd tried to help since starting Lux five years ago. Thinking of Delilah, falling back into her drug habit, and then dying before she could truly reach the limits of her potential.

"So what made you realize you didn't have free will?" Rachelle asked, pulling him back from those bleak thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"What made you realize you didn't have free will?" Rachelle repeated. "You didn't just wake up one day and go, 'You know, I don't have any free will, I think I'd like some.' There had to be something you wanted first, that you couldn't have - a choice that you wanted to make, that you couldn't. It's like - sorry in advance, okay? - but it's like a bird in a glass cage. It doesn't realize it's not free until it tries to fly outside the cage." She looked at him, looking, for the moment, far older than her twelve or thirteen years. "What made you try to fly outside your cage?"

Lucifer looked away, trying to hide his discomfort by raising his glass again for another drink. This one _was_ sharp, he told himself. So sharp he'd cut himself.

"What does it matter, now?" he asked softly. "It was a long time ago."

"You want me to work with you, to get your Mom back in Hell where she belongs," Rachelle said. "I haven't been a wizard too long yet, but I figure if everything else has a price, then I have the right to ask for something, too. And all I want is to know who I'm working with, so I know if I'm making the right choice in siding with the Devil. You understand that there's a difference, right? Between making _a_ choice, and making the _right_ choice. So I want to know - what was so important to you, that you risked everything so you could choose it?"

"It doesn't matter." Lucifer closed his eyes so she couldn't see the pain reflected in them.

"Yeah, it kind of does," Rachelle insisted. "It set you on the path to who you are now, and if you want me to work with who you are now, you gotta help me understand how you got here."

He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "My appointment with my therapist isn't until tomorrow," he said.

"The Devil sees a therapist? No, never mind, you're not gonna distract me with that. I want an answer."

The sound of the back door opening was never so welcome to Lucifer's ears as it was right then.

"Lucifer? You here?" Chloe Decker's voice called as her footsteps echoed sharply through the kitchen area. She rounded the corner. "We've got a case - oh, hello," she interrupted herself as she caught sight of Rachelle.

"Hi," Rachelle greeted her, then turned to Lucifer. "A case?"

"Yes," Lucifer said, jumping on the distraction. "I assist the local police sometimes. Rachelle, this is Detective Chloe Decker, my partner. Detective, Rachelle Jones."

"Hi, Rachelle, nice to meet you. I'm assuming the only thing in that glass is Pepsi," she said, giving Lucifer a stern look.

"It's Pepsi," Rachelle confirmed, coming to Lucifer's defense.

"Yes, because Rachelle is a very responsible young lady," Lucifer added. "She turned down the alcohol, even when I offered."

"Lucifer! I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that!"

Rachelle giggled, and for a moment, Lucifer was reminded again that this was a child. A child taking on responsibilities far outside those of her peers, but still a child.

"So, Rachelle, how do you and Lucifer know each other?" Chloe asked, clearly fishing for information as to why Lucifer would be sitting all alone in his bar with a young girl.

"Oh, we just met," Rachelle said, grinning at Lucifer. "I was looking for someone else, but they're not here," she continued, and Lucifer nodded to show her he'd picked up on her intended message. "I met Lucifer instead."

"I see," Chloe said, although Lucifer doubted that. He was going to get some questions later, he was sure. "Do you need help finding them? Or a ride home, or anything?"

"Nah, I'm good, I'll catch the bus home." Rachelle upended her glass and drained the last of the Pepsi, then stood up. "Thanks for the pop," she said to Lucifer.

"You're welcome," Lucifer said. He was relieved that Chloe had interrupted them, but he would still need to talk further with Rachelle. It was obvious that his Mum was meant to be her Ordeal - _there are no accidents_ \- but he would be damned again if he'd let her face it alone. Besides, that was the price he'd agreed to pay his Dad for Chloe's safety. So he caught Rachelle's eye and winked, his head turned away from Chloe, as he said, "Feel free to stop by again. I'll let Maze know that all carbonated beverages are on the house - as long as you're not here during our business hours," he added, because a child in a busy nightclub would be sure to draw the wrong kind of attention.

"Cool!" Rachelle was keeping up the 'just a kid' act in front of Chloe, but as Lucifer ushered her out the back door ahead of himself and Chloe - he had no idea how Rachelle had got in, though likely wizardry was involved - she stopped and looked up at him. "I'll see you again," she said. "I still need your answer on that one question." Her tone was still light, but her eyes had that too-wise look to them again.

Lucifer stilled, the casual smile he seemed to always have around Chloe slipping away as he looked at Rachelle. There were so many human children who went missing every year; and while Lucifer didn't know the numbers, he suspected a large percentage were wizards on Ordeal who couldn't complete their mission - or who did, but sacrificed their lives in the process. This young child might be one of them; and Beatrice would be her age, in just a few short years...

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, then reached out to tap a finger against the binding of the old, worn book in Rachelle's hands.

"This," he said softly. "This was the choice I wanted to make. The choice I would have made, if it had been offered. But why would They offer that choice to - to people who can't make their own decisions?" He refused to meet Rachelle's eyes, not wanting to see the pity he knew would be there. "That's what was so important. That was why I risked it all. All I wanted was a chance, for myself and for my siblings. But it didn't work. They never made the offer."

He knew Chloe wouldn't see the book for what it was. Even he couldn't see it all the time. But right now, the title - _So You Want to Be a Wizard_ \- was clearly visible along the spine of the book, as if the Powers That Be were quietly mocking him.

"So there's your answer," Lucifer said, looking away. He was giving away too much by his body language, he knew it, but he couldn't manage his usual Devil-may-care attitude at the moment. "Satisfied?"

He walked away before he could hear her answer.

***********  


"Lucifer...?"

"Don't, Detective. Please - just don't."

She didn't. But she put her hand on his, and it helped, just a little.

***********  


Two nights later, the case solved, Lucifer stepped out of the elevator into his penthouse, his suit jacket over his shoulder. He'd just had a celebratory drink with Chloe, but as usual, she'd declined his offer to spend the night. He might have tried harder to tempt her, but as soon as she mentioned wanting to get home to Trixie, he'd relented. The possibility - years away, but growing closer every day - that Trixie might be offered the Oath had Lucifer feeling strangely guilty every time he drew Chloe's time away from her daughter.

Lucifer dropped his jacket on the back of the couch - he'd get it later, or the cleaning staff would - and was about to head for the bedroom when a folded piece of notebook paper, like the kind Trixie used on her homework sometimes, caught his eye.

 _Okay_ , he thought, sitting on the edge of the couch, _who's leaving me love notes like a high school kid with a crush_?

But when he picked it up and unfolded it, he saw right away that it wasn't a love note - and it wasn't from a high school kid, either.

" _Lucifer_ ," the note read:

" _Sorry for walking through your wall to leave this note, but you didn't give me your phone number or email, and I haven't figured out yet how to configure the manual for book-to-phone texting._

 _"Also sorry for making you almost cry in front of your partner. That wasn't cool._ "

"I did _not_ almost cry," Lucifer protested, fully aware that there was no one to hear how childish he sounded.

" _We need to set up a schedule so we can meet and go over stuff. I've got Tuesday and Thursday afternoons free from 3:30-5:30 if you can meet me at the library where I usually wait for Mom to pick me up when she gets off work. We're going to have to tell her something so she doesn't get suspicious, and I don't want to lie to her. So I was thinking you could sign up as a library volunteer. Then it wouldn't be weird._ "

"And you think me as a volunteer wouldn't be weird?" Lucifer scoffed.

" _And if you imply that it's court-ordered community service, it would even be believable (but don't lie!)_."

Damn it, but the girl had a point there.

" _So I need to tell you a story. I met this kid yesterday at LAX when I went to see the worldgates there._ "

Lucifer was puzzled. _Worldgates at LAX? And why do I have to read about a preteen playdate anyway?_

But he kept reading.

" _His name is Darryl, and he's Autistic. I told him I'm on my Ordeal, and he told me about his. And at first I thought I really got screwed over with mine, because all he had to do was say the Oath and I have to catch the Devil's Mom. And then he told me why his was such a big deal, and then I got it. Because he had to say the Oath, but the Lone Power was throwing everything It had at him to keep him from saying it. Like making sensory overloads more overloaded and making it harder to communicate verbally and stuff like that. He basically couldn't concentrate enough to say the Oath, is what I'm saying. It was really hard. But he kept at it, and he finally did it with the help of some friends._

_"And then I thought about you."_

Lucifer's breath caught in his throat, and his fingers crushed the edges of the paper. He took a deep breath and forced himself to smooth out the page, to keep reading.

" _You said all that about how angels can't make choices, so there are no angel wizards because the Powers can't offer them the Oath because they couldn't choose to take it. But you never really explained how you were able to choose to want wizardry, but you wanted it enough to fight with your Dad and get thrown out of Heaven (which really sucks, by the way)._

_"So, like here's the thing. The Lone Power tried to keep Darryl from saying the Oath by making it so he couldn't. Someone (maybe your Dad, maybe not) made it so you couldn't make a choice, but you did. And I started thinking about how you're the Devil and don't really play by Heaven's rules (and there's totally a song that could be written with that line) and I thought - why are you waiting for the Powers to OFFER wizardry to you???_

_"Like maybe that's your Ordeal. Just like Darryl's - your Ordeal might just be to SAY THE OATH! Only the Lone Power and your Dad have got you thinking that you can't because the Powers didn't think you were worthy or some shit like that, IDK. So I thought - why don't you TRY IT???_ "

There was more writing, but Lucifer couldn't bring himself to read it. He set the note carefully to the side, then buried his face in his hands and tried to not hyperventilate as he considered the audacity of what this kid was suggesting.

 _She wants me to_ steal _wizardry? I was banished to Hell for millennia just for wanting the Powers to offer it to me, and she wants me to just_ take _it_?

Most people thought Lucifer's attitude toward his rebellion, toward the Fall, was cavalier at best. It wasn't, but he didn't want them to know how badly he'd been hurt - you didn't advertise your weaknesses, after all. Only a few people, like Chloe, knew how badly his Father's rejection had damaged him - and they didn't know the whole story.

_I can't - it would be madness to challenge Father so blatantly. And after He saved Chloe and brought me back from Hell after I died..._

And yet... Lucifer was terrified by the suggestion, but a part of him - the part of him that challenged his Father the first time, that got him banished to Hell but won him his freedom five years ago - that part couldn't leave the idea alone.

It was several minutes before he found the courage, but finally Lucifer pulled Rachelle's note back toward him. He could at least read it through to the end, see what else she had to say.

There wasn't much more.

" _That's why I didn't try too hard to find your number - I figured you wouldn't want anyone around if you try this. Either because you were embarrassed or you thought your Dad might pull a Zeus and lightning bolt your ass._ "

Lucifer laughed, a bit hysterically, and it was a moment before he could pull himself together.

" _But seriously, I think you should read this out loud. Either the Powers give you your wizardry, or They don't. But here's the thing. I met someone else when I met Darryl. Her name's Carmela, and she's seriously kickass awesome - and she's not a wizard. Her brother is, but she's not. But she still fights against the Lone Power and entropy. So you don't have to be a wizard to make a difference. You can just be a normal person - or a fallen angel, I guess? - and still say the Oath and follow it, even if there's no wizardry to go along with it._

 _"I promise I'll never ask if you read it or not. But I think you should take the chance. So I copied it out of my manual for you_."

And there it was - the Oath. Written in a twelve-year-old's barely-legible printing, it was a single block of text:

" _In Life’s name, and for Life’s sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so – till Universe’s end._ "

And below that:

" _Good luck! - Rachelle_ "

***********  


True to her promise, Rachelle didn't ask when he met her at the library the following Tuesday afternoon. They spent the time searching the internet for any stories that might hint at his Mother's activities, but truthfully, Lucifer wasn't quite sure he'd know it when he found it. Rachelle had hesitantly suggested a seeking spell, using his Mother's true name (which she didn't know, but assumed Lucifer did), but Lucifer vetoed it on the grounds that speaking Her name was too dangerous and would only be used as a last resort.

Chloe, the ever-observant detective, noticed his subdued mood; but other than the occasional offer to be there for him if he ever wanted to talk, she left him alone to deal with it in his own time. Maze kept trying to find new and interesting people to throw into Lucifer's bed to cheer him up, but somehow it wasn't working, and he finally asked her to stop. Amenadiel didn't ask, but just kept searching, likely assuming that Lucifer would return to normal once Mum was back in her cage.

At least once a day, Lucifer would pick up the notebook paper and read through it again, beginning to end - except for the final paragraph, which was the Oath. He'd only skimmed it the first time, afraid that even silently reading it would bring down his Father's wrath. But one phrase kept coming back to him.

" _I will put aside fear for courage..._ "

"I _am_ afraid," Lucifer whispered - partly to himself, and partly to his Father. It was Wednesday afternoon, and Chloe was on her way to pick him up for another case. He was waiting in the penthouse, the by-now horribly wrinkled note in his hands. "Am I going too far this time? Or is this what You wanted after all? Father, for once in our existence, couldn't you give me a straight answer?"

There was no response; but he hadn't expected one. His Father tended not to answer His free-willed humans, either, expecting them to make their own choices and to live - or die - with the consequences.

"Luci."

Lucifer shot off the couch, the note once again crumpled in his fists. Amenadiel stood before him, where he hadn't been just a moment before. "Brother," Lucifer greeted the angel. "Any news?"

Amenadiel nodded. "It's bad," he said. "It's going to hit the news networks any moment now -"

"What happened?" Lucifer asked, a chill running down his spine at the look on his brother's face.

"Mother happened." Amenadiel unfurled his wings and reached out to grab Lucifer's arm. "We need to go -"

"Not until I know Chloe is safe," Lucifer objected.

"Luci, I can't carry two," Amenadiel argued, "and we need to get out of here -"

The building trembled under their feet. The glass Lucifer had been drinking from, which he'd left too close to the edge of the table, tipped over and crashed onto the floor, sending shards flying.

Lucifer met Amenadiel's wide eyes with his own. "That was Mum, wasn't it," he said. It wasn't really a question.

"It was." Amenadiel grabbed the sleeve of Lucifer's jacket. "Lucifer -"

"Take Maze and go," Lucifer ordered. "I'll find Chloe and call for you, and then I've got an ally to find."

"No, we've got to go -"

"I'm not going with you, Amanadiel!" Lucifer shrugged out of his jacket, leaving his brother holding the empty garment. "This is my choice!"

The building shook again, harder this time, and Lucifer had to take a step to keep his balance. He shook his head and started for the emergency stairs - last thing he needed was to get stuck in the elevator.

"What are you going to do?" Amenadiel asked, tossing the jacket aside and following.

"I'm going to find Chloe." Alarms sounded as Lucifer pushed through the door and started down the stairs. "I'll call for you - you can get her to safety."

"And then what?"

The question stopped Lucifer in his tracks. He stood on the steps, one hand on the railing, the other still clutching a crumpled ball of paper.

"Lucifer," Amenadiel repeated. "What are you going to do?"

Mum was on a rampage, judging by the tremors and the faint sounds of screaming coming from the streets below. Father had banished Lucifer to Hell, but He'd _caged_ Mum down there. Lucifer had few memories of his Mother, but screaming and blood filled every one of them.

He turned to Amenadiel. "I'm going to stop Her," he said. His fist tightened around the notebook paper. "Whatever it takes."

Something in his expression must have warned Amenadiel off, because he didn't argue. He just nodded. "Call for me," he said - and then he was gone.

The building rumbled again, and the lights flickered. Lucifer hurried down to the landing, where he'd have more stable footing. He straightened out the paper with shaking hands.

"Father, if You've got an objection, now would be the time to tell me," he muttered. "You know the drill - speak now, or forever hold Your peace..."

Nothing happened, but the screams from outside intensified. Lucifer imagined Chloe out there, caught in the chaos; Beatrice at home, crying for her mother; and Rachelle, out there on Ordeal, a willing heart ready to give her all in Life's service.

No more dallying. It was time to make his choice.

Lucifer took a deep breath, and began to speak the words he'd waited an eternity to say.

"In Life's Name, and for Life's Sake..."

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr as leonaesperanza.


End file.
